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Whispers through the Pines 6000 Words

WHISPERS THROUGH THE PINES

BY

Artemis J Jones

Whispers through the
Pines

Chapter
One

Itchy Feet

The gentle man parked his car at the rest
stop. He got out to stretch a little and call home. He
was on his way back from the funeral for his beloved niece in West Palm Beach.
While he was talking he waved to a state trooper, and glanced at the map on the
public service bulletin board. He said “honey I will be up to Cocoa in about an
hour.” She kept talking as the man walked a little more. Finally he said. “Honey
I gots to use the restroom. I love you. I will see you
soon.”

***

“Jenny Marie you get in this house,
now! I am talking to the air, Robert do you know where she is at?”

“You know where she is, she always
goes to Lisa's house and then they go hide in the woods.”

“I don't like this”

“Cheryl, will you just quiet down
some?”

“No , no I
won't it is time for her to be home. Her and Lisa joined at the hip, sometimes I
would swear by it! But I am worried, please go check on them. I will call Lisa's
house and talk to her mom.”

“Hello”

“Hi Kathleen, it's Cheryl. Do you know where the girls are?”

“I thought they were at your house.
When Lisa left here this morning, she said she was going to spend the whole day
at your house. She told Philip and I that ya’llwere going to the beach. I know Lisa had a towel with her.
Cheryl did you and Robert go to the beach today?

“No, no we did not ! Where are our girls? I am worried.”

“I don't know, but when Lisa gets
home, she will be grounded for a month”

“I am thinking a year right now for
Jenny-Marie. Let me talk more with Robert and we will call you if anything comes
up.”

“Thanks, we will do the same.”

“Bye”

“Bye”

“Lisa wait
up. Do you think our parents are looking for us know? What did you tell your mom
anyway?”

“That I was going to the beach with
you”

“You're such a good liar.”

“I am! What about you? What did you
tell your mom?”

“That we were spending the day
together and we would find some adventure to go on”

“You always do that, tell some
little white lie. Do you really think she fell for it? Do you even hint that we
were going to visit your Uncle in Orlando”

“No, I kept it a nice clean white
lie”

“Let's go back to the interstate
and hitchhike up to Cocoa Beach then take that road that goes west to
Orlando”

“Okay”

“Jen, how much more sunlight you
think we have?”

“We have a few hours, more than we
need to get to Orlando. My Uncle will be shocked when he see's us standing at his door.”

“You didn't call your Uncle? Another white lie.”

“I did call him and I said we
wanted to visit him in Orlando. He said 'Well Jenny-Marie we'd love to have you
come up this weekend'”

“You know we are two free spirits,
nothing but wanderlust in our feet”

“Hey Jen ,
I think we got a ride, that old car is slowing down for us. Do you think we
should take it, the ride that is”

“Let's see who's driving first”

An old Buick Electra slows to a
stop on the shoulder about 100 feet in front of the girls.

“Why you girls out here on this
road- it is dangerous-do you need a ride somewhere?

“Yes Mister, we're going to
Orlando. Can you give us a ride?

“Get in,
I'm only going up to Cocoa at Route 520. I will drop you off there. Can I call
your parents or something for you's? Let's get
moving.” The man replied and continued talking to the girls.

“How old are you two anyway, don't
look like much more than fourteen. Don't you know it ain't the sixties anymore. Used to
be able to hitchhike any where in the U S of A back
then, but times are different. If I had the time I take you to Orlando, make
sure you got there safe. But I got my life too, I got
me a wife, fine woman. I got's to
spend time with her.”

The girls giggled in the back seat
as they listened to the man driving.

“Well this is your stop. You can go
over to the gas station and here is some change for the pay phone. Sure I can't
help in some way?”

“My Uncle in Orlando is expecting
us, we're okay thanks” Jen replied.

The old Buick Electra drove away.
They watched it go east and then they turned west, noticing the sun had started
to set. They were only about thirty minutes from Jen's Uncle’s house. Just enough sunlight to get there safe.

“Come on, Lisa we need to get
moving.”

“Where are we?”

“We’re on Route 520 and we better
start going west to Orlando.” Jen replied.

“Jen you ever think about the
future? I am thinking about tomorrow, going to some water park, going down a
slide, splashing, and having fun with you.” Lisa said.

“I think about the past, when I was
a kid, at Christmas time. My mom and dad always had some surprise for us. My
brothers always planned our attack of the presents. My older brother telling
everyone what to do, ‘Jen you get the scissors, don’t let little bobby have
them.’ We have good families.

Lisa what are you staring at?”

“The tree’s -it is just a never
ending line of tall tree’s”

“What is?” Jen asked.

“This road, it is all Pine trees,
not one palm tree like in our yard. The pines don’t sway with the wind, like
palms. They just let the air pass them by and leave the sounds of whispers
flowing in the breeze.”

“You’re creeping me out”

“Jen look that old pickup truck is
stopping, maybe we got a ride.”

“You girls can jump in the back if
you want, I am going towards Orlando. I do need to stop in Naracoosee, but only for a moment. You two should not be out
here all alone.” The driver said.

“Lisa stop pulling at me, we need a
ride”

“Not him - I am not getting in that
truck”

“Thanks mister, we’re okay” replied
both girls.

Chapter
Two

Route
520

“Allen put those
chains that are around the stump in the truck.”

“I will Uncle
Edward. I thought we were going to pull that stump today”

“Those chains are
to weak to pull a stump
anymore, bad links. We will use them for something else”

“What else do I need
to put in the van?

“Get some Oranges
off that tree by the canal, they are always the sweetest. Look here Allen, I
want

you to
drive”

“I'm going to lock
the shop”

Uncle Edward
tossed Allan the keys to the van he got in and started the
engine.

“Gas looks a little
low, we will need to stop before we get on the
Interstate” Said Allan

***

I watched Lisa stare down the road,
looking at the tall pines, and began to wonder what our mothers were thinking
right now. A moment ago Lisa was thinking one day into her future and telling me
what a wonderful day -- tomorrow would be. She turned around a lot to watch me
as I walked just a little behind her. Lisa knew I was mad because we had not
accepted the ride in the old pickup truck. The truck was gone, long gone out of
sight, and I knew her fears were increasing as the sun set over the tall pines-
her future fading away within a mirage far up the road.

What else could I do but keep
walking towards the setting sun? With each step, I thought about my past, and my
family. Not talking- thinking. This was all my idea, going to visit my Uncle in
Orlando, I talked Lisa into it, now we were on a deserted road, thirty miles
away from my Uncle’s and we were tired and hungry.

“Jen wait up, here comes a car. It
looks like the car that the old man was driving, the one who gave us a ride
earlier.” Lisa said

“I don't think it is! That car was
light gray, this car is darker” Jen replied.

“How can you tell with the sun
going down.” Lisa asked.

“It's slowing down, we have a
ride”

The car- full of partying teenagers, just slowed down. The teens inside laughed at the
girls, then sped up and drove away. We watched the car go off and seemingly
vanish into the never ending line of trees. Neither of us noticed the van that
had been following the car, but now stopped a short distance away.

Two men got out. They began to walk
towards us. They spoke in soft tones and asked us questions.

“Where do you girls need a ride
to?” said the older one.

Their non-threatening words did not
match the quick pace in their steps. They were coming after us and I ran out
into the road screaming for help. Lisa froze. The men forced us into the open
back doors of the van and told us to be quiet, and we would not get hurt. The
older man was mostly bald with straggly hair down the sides of his head. His
hands were callused and they felt rough on my skin, he continued to touch me and
Lisa. The men did not say much and only referred to each other as ‘Cousin’. The
younger man had a moustache and longer hair. He held a gun- pointing it at both
of us- while placing a finger up to his lips. The older man, stopped fondling us
and quickly moved to the driver seat, started the engine, and drove away. The
van went about one hundred feet up the road and turned around back towards the
interstate highway. The man in the back with a gun put duct tape over our mouth’s. He sat across from us- just staring at us devoid of
any expression. Feeling the terror we just stared at other. Lisa began to
urinate and the urine soaked right through her new Guess jeans. When the odor
from the urine reached the man’s sense of smell, he grinned. We felt the van
turn right and speed up as it entered the traffic on the interstate highway. Our
eyes watered up. Lisa’s view of the future was full of sadness, and I could see
it in her expression and feel it. She saw other people in the future but she
could not see herself. She felt my presence, and I felt hers even though it was
dark now, and we were unable to really see each other. The van continued south
on the interstate for some time, time that the men enjoyed as our terror
increased. We felt the van slow and turn to the right again. The van was off the
interstate. The road we were on was bumpy and stones were hitting the bottom of
the van. We had begun to feel a bond now that transcended verbal language and we
began to read each other’s minds. The van stopped.

The older man got out opened the
back door of the van, pulled Lisa out. He tore off the duct tape covering her
mouth, then dragged her down a path. The younger man
did the same with me. It was dark and we could not see each other. I heard Lisa
screaming. The men took turns with us. Then one said ‘I’m done’. He left Lisa on
the ground crying. I heard chains on the ground, Lisa screaming again and then,
a loud flash and a bang. I had never heard a gun go off before. I heard the
sounds of the chains then a splash. I knew Lisa’s life was over, but I still
felt her presence. Both men grabbed me, and took me down a path. I could hear
fish splashing and the croak of a gator in the water nearby. Lisa was still with
me. I listened to the men argue for a minute, while tied-up – not being able to
run away. My breathing became heavy then a flash.

***

The two men wrapped Jen in a tarp
and loaded her body into the van. They went back to the interstate and drove
south towards Indian Springs County. They parked the van at their shop and put
Jens body in a large drum. She was there for a week, soaked in some kind of
chemical. At the end of the week a man opened the lid on the drum. He called out
to another man that was there.

“Detective Summers, we got another
one”

***

Their existence was no longer of
the physical world, but both remained aware of each other. A spiritual journey
had begun for Jennie Marie and Lisa. Their time on this journey is unknown.

Chapter
Three

The Beauty of
Green

The older man pulled off the side of the
road. He spoke to the young man and the girl that was with him. The young man
told the older man that his car overheated. The older man offered to give them a
ride to a gas station about four miles up the road and told them to jump in the
back of his pick up truck. They did and the older man
drove them to the gas station. They thanked him, and went into the store at the
gas station to buy some antifreeze and a jug of water. The older man waited
outside. The younger man paid, went outside, jumped in the back of the truck and
the older man drove them back to their car. The younger man filled the radiator,
started the engine. The older man never waited to be thanked, he was
gone.

Two women embraced outside the building, it
was late afternoon, and the sun was still present in the day. The light shined
across their faces, illuminating lines and years of stresses. One commented to
the other, “Will this day bring us peace?” The other replied, “Let’s hope
so.”

***

“Look how many
people turned up for this- wow.”

“Your silly, how can you make a joke at a time like this? And
it is only two dozen people, who I'm sure are getting paid.”

"What color is that?"

"Some shade of green"

"Do you think they gave him enough? I hope it is. I don't
want something bad to happen. I mean I don't care if he is in pain, I just want
to make sure he is dead"

"I know"

“It is strange being two spirits. Knowing exactly what
–you- are thinking and feeling. If we were alive we’d be joined at the
hip.”

“We have always been joined somehow.”

“Look at her, the witness in the second row, third chair.
She looks like she is crying. Did we know her? Maybe she knew him. There is
always someone who loves a murderer.”

“We did not know her, but the guy in the first row third
chair knew your uncle. Remember we saw him at your Uncles funeral. Your Uncle
Bob took all this pretty hard.”

“You know, there are a lot of cars
outside.”

“Yea people always get curious about this kind of thing.
They didn't get to curious about us or any of the rest of the victims. If I
could laugh, I would be hysterical over the people doing the candle light vigil
for the killer.”

“Remember the trial? He and his cousin were convicted of
killing six. I wish we could do something for the other eight that nobody knows
about.”

“Someday, someone will find more
bones”

“We need to help with that”

“I know, but later. We both need to go back home when this
is done. We have to sit with our families, let them know it is okay, help them
move on.”

“It's kinda cool that we can just
imagine ourselves at home and then be there.”

“Yea our poor relatives outside, have a long ride home from
Starke.”

“We had some nice family trips coming up this way of course
for nicer places than here. My Dad putting his hand out the window, letting it
ride the flow of air, pretending he was a pilot. Now
they will all have to get in the car and ride on that highway, silently,
thinking about us- it will be a long ride.”

“Remember Ichetucknee”

“Yea that was so much fun riding the tubes down the river.
Swimming in the spring water, ohh -that was always
cold.”

“You got used to it quick. It was the best times for us. We
had good families. Why did we do something so stupid?”

“Adventure”

“It wasn’t worth it. This has hurt so many people. I know
there were others, but look at what it did to our families. This has taken so
long, he has been on death row for twenty-eight
years.”

“How long is this going to take? Is he still
breathing?”

“I think he is, trying to fight it maybe. Should we
help?”

“No- and you know the rules”

“Yea you’re right. Just testing you”

“We never said that when we were young: Just testing you!”

“I am getting with the times.”

“How are we going to help the
others?”

“Good question. We have to be careful- the rules- are very
strict. Only show the truth. Never cause a loss of life- no revenge.”

“I know … those bones in the grove. We can have some kids
ride there four-wheelers near the bones.”

“Maybe , there are some big Orange
tree’s growing over some of them now.”

“What about the ones near his shop? I can’t believe the
detectives didn’t find them, they were so close.”

“To late for those, his shop is
gone. Bulldozer took it down faster than this creep is taking to
die.”

“It is strange how society just erases things, all the bad
memories, just gone so no one can see it and relive it. Just like us, we are
gone. They wrote very little about us.”

“That was because of our age, and our
families”

“I know, but what about us. We were just fourteen. We
stopped on that day, at that moment- just ceased to exist, to dream, and to ever
know the feelings of love.”

“No, we knew love, and we can still see it and feel
it”

“You know what I mean- love – with a boy.”

“You were always ahead of me on that. I knew the things you
thought about, even when you tried not to tell me, but I knew. Joined together always!”

“You know what I want to do? I want to go sit in school,
and find some girls who think they can do stupid stuff like we did, and stop
them”

“Stop them. How?”

“Like we could lock the doors of their rooms, keep them
safe.”

“You know that if their truth is taking them down a bad
road, we cannot stop them”

“Their truth, their truth, I am tired of that. I know of
two girls right now, who are on the same path as us, I want to stop them. I am
tired of this truth- this unchanging path for the living. And you know this
truth is not complete: there are some who do their own will even as wandering
souls”

“I know that is true, but we are not ready for that next
step, maybe we will be soon.”

“Remember the guy driving the old pickup truck, the one I
did not trust. He rides on Rte. 520 everyday looking for the lost and still
living. He was our angel and we did not know it.”

“Yea … on that deserted road alone, every day. Nothing
about him has changed”

“But he does not interfere. The truth is in the decision of
those he offers to help.”

“Look I think his heart stopped”

“Oh it did”

“He’s dead. It’s 6:19 pm”

Chapter
Four

Undefined

“Hello”

“Hi Cheryl, it's
Kathleen. Would you like to go shopping this afternoon? Get something for those
grand babies of yours!”

“I don't know … I'm not sure, there is so
much to do.”

“How about something in violet for the
little girl? You remember how
much she liked that color, it was so pretty in her
hair. I won't take no for an answer. I'm buyin.”

“Okay, how about at two o'clock after I eat
lunch”

“See you soon.”

***

“You enjoyed that!”

“So did you. Your presence was
almost glowing when they pushed the green fluid into his arm.”

“I accepted what happened.”

“That's a lie. Tell the truth. You
enjoyed watching him die! Your thoughts were swirling with anticipation, about
us, about our families, and it all centered on his death. You think we'll all be
better for it.”

“Why won't we be better off? Tell
me if you’re so smart. Suddenly you understand all of this, murder, revenge,
judgment, and healing. You think …you understand, healing: no you don't! I only
know what direction I'm being guided towards—it's not my choice, but I feel
it—taking me to another place, and I'll go willingly.”

“So you don't accept all of this,
and now you want another path, away from me. Well I don't, I won't forgive
predators, rapists, and murderers. I want to see them all on the table soaking
up the green fluid!”

“We can't continue like this. Yes I
felt something at that moment — it was a strange sense of joy— but it hasn’t
changed anything, and neither will interfering.”

“I can't forgive what they
did.”

“Then you will remain the way you
are now.”

“How can you just let it go? I
heard that gun fire- the one that killed you- I still feel that bullet, as if it
hit me. I constantly see—my last moment of life— that flash at the barrel of the
gun.”

“It's not about that anymore.”

“What’s it about, then?”

“It's about letting the living,
make their own decisions, until their time has come. We can move on from this,
this stasis, from ourselves.”

“What about the ones who make a bad
decision?”

“Like we did? There is nothing we
can do about that. I'm going to see the kind man who gave us a ride. He's dying,
and he’ll become an angel when he passes.”

“So he’ll never be a wandering
spirit like us.”

“That's correct. He's calling for
me now.”

“He’s calling for you … but not for
me?”

“You must come with me.”

“No, I’m going to go see Mr. Fred
Waters, who sits in his cell, pretending that all is
forgiven.”

“You can’t do that. You must come
with me”

“I’m not taking any orders.
Goodbye!”

***

I’ve lost it all. My life,
my family, and my best friend. Lisa will become an angel, I’m sure of
that. All I want to do is make that man suffer —the true mastermind: Mr Fred Waters, the predator who knew he would rape and kill
on that day, and how he would use those chains.

***

“Good evening Mr. Waters.”

“Who are you? Get out of my cell.
Guards! Someone is in my cell.”

“They can’t see or hear me—Mr.
Waters.”

Who are you?”

“You know who I am. I look the
same, and my voice is the same as it was twenty-eight years ago. You remember me
crying, pleading for my life, and begging you to ‘let us go’. I’ve been in your
thoughts and nightmares for a long time. The last time you saw me, you ordered
your nephew Allen to shoot me.”

“You’re the one they found in the
barrel.”

“Good, now we can talk. I’m not
going to ask you, why.”

“Then what are you here for …
revenge?”

“I watched your nephew die. I
enjoyed that moment. The changes in his respiration, taking in those last
breathes of sterile air. The malfunctions with the equipment, letting him linger
in that state of consciousness, watching him tremble, just before death.”

“You’re here to kill me?”

“A lot of time went by. We, I mean
me and the other girl—my friend—that you killed, forgot about you. But she has
moved on to be with angels, and I’m here with you.”

“Kill me or get out of my
cell.”

“Nothing has changed you. Not time.
Not reflection. You give orders. You bear your false witness to god every day,
lying to him, telling him you didn’t kill those girls.”

“I didn’t kill them. I only had
sex.”

“Liar! You
choked some with your bare hands …your callused hands— that disgrace true hard
working men. Men who work each day, with their bare hardened skin: bare hands
like my father used to work on cars. The hands he washed every day, trying to
clean his hands, his heart, and his mind. Staring into that dirty sink,
scrubbing, thinking, rinsing, hoping …to be free of my memories. He could never
work hard enough to forget me, to just let me be the past. You left the scrapes
of your calluses in his soul, it eventually killed him too.”

“You ran away.”

“I did, but you took my life, and
with my life, you stole the lives of so many. The ones who were easy prey like
me, and the family members who died not knowing how to handle the grief.”

“Get it over with, do what you came
here for!”

“I’ve been thinking about that—what
I came here for—and how I would do it: to become like you—and enjoy the satiable
pleasure of taking another person’s life. Perhaps I’ll use a guard, or maybe
another inmate to help fulfill my desires.”

“You’re still a whiney little
coward, just like the day you died.”

“No, I’m different now, my presence
glistens with thoughts of revenge. Look into your mirror you will see my whole
life— the life you took away.”

“I don’t take orders from a
kid.”

“Stand up and face the mirror Mr.Waters!”

“I see you, unchanged.”

“No, that’s another lie, you took
everything from me. I grew up, got married, and had kids.”

“Look for yourself, you were going to die anyway.”

“Your lies won’t save you.”

“I’m forgiven and ready for
Heaven,” Mr. Waters yelled, his words echoing through the walls of the
prison.

“Heaven?”

Chapter
Five

Revelation

“Kathleen, it’s
Cheryl. She was just here sitting on her bed. Nothing about her changed, still
had the same blonde hair, same clothes. She sat on the bed and looked at me,
watched me come in the room and stare at her. At first I was shocked, almost
collapsed, but then she motioned to me to sit with her.

“What did you do?”

“I sat with her, she was sad about
something. I could see it in the images of her eyes. She wanted to cry, but
couldn’t.”

***

“You went to see Mr. Waters, broke
the rules, and I know what happened.”

“Aware? You are not me. You do not
understand anguish, hate, revenge. You do not know what
it is like to feel all that rage. You do not know what it is like to want to
kill.”

“I told you I know what happened.
And to tell the truth ...”

“Stop right there … you and your
truth. Crap, BS.”

“Jenny, tell me what you felt. Why
did you want to do such a horrible thing?”

“I made my presence known to Mr.
Waters, we talked in his cell. While we talked rage filled me and it felt good,
it was something I'd never felt— it was exciting.”

“And
?”

“I saw him hanging from the bars in
his cell, the mattress on fire under him , the flames
rising up, burning his flesh, taking him to the hell where he belongs. It all
felt right to me. We continued to talk.

I asked him first to stand up and
look in the mirror so he could see the life he took away from me. He refused. I
demanded he face the truth in the mirror, to know the life he destroyed.”

“Jenny stop, you don't need to tell
me the rest. I know who you really are. You will never be an angel, but what
happened had to happen.”

“You want to know the truth let me
finish. He looked in the mirror and he stood there lying to me, telling me I had
no life, that I never got married, never became a mom, that it all ended. I got
up and pulled the sheet off the bed. Walked over to Mr. Waters, stood behind
him, and then I began to wrap the sheet around his neck.”

“Stop, Stop right now, why do you
want to re-experience this?”

“As I wrapped the sheet around his
neck, I noticed Mr. Waters had a sick grin on his face. It was at that moment
that we were both looking into the mirror. That the truth of who we are reflected back, he was always evil. I stood there
and looked at myself, and I was young, just fourteen. I never grew up. Mr.
Waters— the devil himself —told the truth.”

***

“Make your presence visible to me,
and look at me Lisa. We need to see each other for who we are now at this
moment.”

***

“You are older. This is the life
you would have had. I never grew up, but you did. Lisa you were going to live, I
took it all from you, this has all been my fault, you
died because of my stupid idea to run away.”

“I went with you. Nothing can ever
change that. It was my decision. Really it’s all my
fault, I’m the one who did not trust the angel who came to save us.”

“You trust him now, you trust that
way of existence. But I ‘m not sure.”

“I know.”

***

“Trust is something that is within
me. Jenny, you have always been different, you question everything, you question
yourself, your existence, but I don’t. I know about the young mother in Palm
Cay.”

“How? You
were not an angel then, and you weren’t with me.”

“You saved them because you
interfered. And I know the angels don’t like it, but for now they will let you
continue.

She married the cop that came to
help her, you saved his life too. Such a simple little trick, dropping nails on
a road, causing a flat tire. Creating a delay to keep them all from
danger—interfering!”

***

“Tell me about the last moment with
Mr. Waters. The moment when the two of you stared into that mirror together and
you both saw yourselves, you had the sheet around his neck, you began to tighten
it and then you slowly tied a knot.”

“I pulled on the knot, tightening
it, his breathing became erratic, he was struggling for
air. I could feel his physical body reacting wanting to keep itself alive, but his mind was in a different place, he lost
all the signs of humanity.”

“You pulled on the sheet and lead
him over to the cell bars”

“No that is what I was feeling, but
not what did. I looked into the mirror, to see myself again, hoping it was a
lie, but it wasn’t. I had not changed. When I was alive, life meant so much to
me, everything about it was precious. The person in the mirror was not a
murderer. I am not a killer, and there would be no joy in killing, only eternal
pain.”

“You didn’t kill Mr. Waters?”

“No, he is still alive. I left the
cell, still seeing visions of him burning. You were only aware of my hate, and
it was within me, but it was not in control of who I was. He tried to trick me
and get me to be like him. He began saying horrible things about you, he
confessed to me about the other victims, it was just an
act of desperation to pull me back in. But I didn’t weaken. I will interfere,
but not that way.”

Traveled a lot in South America. Extensive interest in Europe. I write short stories and flash fiction primarily for the Young Adult readers. My writing is influenced by real life experiences and observations of our wonderful world. Currently working on getting published. I have completed, several short stories, working on two Novellas, and a Novel. My self published book, Conversations, is currently available on Kindle Select.

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THE WRITER

It's a solitary gig, not for everyone. I write and blog for one reason, to communicate in some small way with people.

Some of my stories are darker, some are just about life as you emerge from adolescence and begin your life among the working class. I think a about the Young Adult reader most of the time when I begin writing a story.